Ch 504 - The Woman In the Blue Dress

Everyone turned to see who had spoken, and the crowd parted like a tide to reveal a beautiful woman in a floral-patterned blue dress.

She wore high-heeled shoes so tall that she loomed over the partygoers and intimidated them with her presence. Her icy blue eyes swept over the crowd, and everyone looked at her with a quiet admiration, respecting her as if she were royalty.

Hushed whispers spread through the crowd as she walked into the hall.

"Who is she?" one onlooker asked another. "I have never seen her around here before."

"I don't know, but maybe she's here to help Alex," another onlooker replied.

Randy saw the woman, and his expression became stern as he realized who she was.

Why is Chelsea here, and why is she dressed like that? he wondered. Why the heck didn't she just wear her uniform?

Steven also frowned as he looked at her. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming?" he asked. "Randy has things under control already. You don't have to worry about it."

Chelsea had spent much of the year in the limelight after having solved several major cases in a row. She was a rising star in the Baltimore Police Department, and she had recently been promoted to Director of the Western District Branch. Randy was her subordinate, and Steven also knew about her.

"Why do I need to tell you where I'm going?" she scoffed.

She was typically cool and collected when on duty, but at that moment, the anger that bubbled underneath the surface threatened to overtake her.

"Why did you shoot Alex?" she asked. "He's my friend."

Steven's stomach dropped, and he turned to Michael and Louisa, who were glancing at each other with confused looks on their faces. They vaguely knew who Chelsea was, but they had no idea she was associated with Alex.

How is a guy like him friends with someone like her? Steven wondered.

Chelsea clearly commanded the respect and obedience of all the officers in the room. But the Murdochs were an arrogant bunch, and not willing to let the police push them around.

"Alex stabbed my nephew twice, and now he's trying to cut his throat," Steven said, waving his gun at Alex. "Everyone here saw it with their own eyes. We can shoot someone in self-defense, can't we?"

Steven was no stranger to violence, and he wasn't afraid to use his gun, even in front of so many officers, if he needed to defend his family.

When Chelsea saw that Steven wouldn't hesitate to shoot, she smiled and looked at Alex.

"I'm sorry I'm late and that my staff threatened you," she said. "I'll be taking disciplinary action against them later."

As she looked at Alex's face, she saw the pain in his expression from the injuries he had sustained while wrestling with Neil, and she couldn't conceal her concern.

Most people didn't notice the look in her eyes, but Louisa saw it, and she immediately suspected that Chelsea's particular concern for Alex spelled trouble for her family.

Alex focused entirely on Chelsea, blocking out everyone else in the hall around them.

"These clowns don't know what they're doing," he said, glancing at Steven. "That guy is particularly unreasonable. He's lucky that I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment."

Steven's body trembled with so much anger that he could hardly stand it.

"You bastard," he muttered. "I'll never let you get away with disrespecting us like this."

"Watch your language," Chelsea said. "I'm in charge of this crime scene now. Randy, round up the suspects, and bring them to me."

"Yes ma'am," Randy replied and then ordered the group of officers to restrain Alex.

As the officers pressed on Alex's back injuries, he winced and took a deep breath to endure the pain.

I have them right where I want them, Chelsea thought, and she winked at Alex.

"Let him go," she shouted. "I'll bring him to the station myself."

The officers who were holding Alex down paused for a moment before releasing him.

He brushed himself off and stood up with an indifferent expression on his face, hiding any anger he might have felt.

Just for a moment, a very different emotion flashed across Chelsea's face. She quickly turned away so others wouldn't see, but Louisa noticed the change in her eyes and felt her stomach turn. She realized she wasn't the only one in that room who had feelings for Alex.

Randy nodded at Steven, who gave him a grim smile in return.

"You're done for," Steven said to Alex. "Even with your deputy friend coming to the rescue, you're not going to escape us. Randy will make sure that you're properly punished."

While Steven gloated, Chelsea turned to Randy and gestured at the Murdochs.

"I meant round up everyone involved here, including Steven," she said.

The crowd sat in silent awe as all of the officers were forced to obey her command.

"What crime have I committed?" Steven asked, fuming with anger. "You can't lock up an innocent man."

"How dare you treat my uncle like a criminal!" Melanie said, pointing her gun at the group of officers surrounding Steven as the air hummed with tension.

Chelsea scowled as the young woman recklessly challenged her authority.

"Draw your weapons," she ordered the officers. "They're resisting arrest. If they don't surrender, shoot them all."

Her powerful and confident voice boomed through the hall.

"Please put down your gun, or we'll be forced to shoot," Randy said to Melanie.

"Put down the gun now," Chelsea said. "That's an order."

Melanie's eyes smoldered with anger, and she shouted, "Make me."

I won't let her humiliate us like this, she thought as her hand clutched the gun so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Chelsea bent down, whipped out a pistol from underneath her dress, and fired at Melanie. The bullet grazed her wrist, and she dropped the gun.

"Take that gun away before she hurts anyone else," Chelsea told the officers.